Carrier Command 2 News

Dear Players,

Playtest 1 has begun!

Playtest 1 will be live from Friday 21st to Monday 24th May 2021, and will be available to a limited number of players, who are all randomly selected by Steam.

Playtest 1 is a stripped down version of the game to focus only on the initial 30-60 minutes of core gameplay, to introduce the concept of the game, and allow players the opportunity to give their thoughts and feedback.

If you are accepted to the Playtest, please let us know your thoughts using the "Submit Feedback" button in game.

We are really interested in how players find the core experience of the game, and how easily players learn the mechanics and progress through the playtest. To this end, we have added some tutorial with instructions on what to press, and also an in-game manual, always available, as a reference for the many controls and screens within the game.



This is the first time we have run a Steam Playtest, so we are starting things slow with just a small number of players, so that feedback is manageable. We hope to quickly scale things up for future playtests, so if you have not been approved for this test - don't worry! There will be shortly be more playtests scheduled and we plan to add more playtesters!

If you are not yet signed up, click "Request Access" on the Carrier Command 2 Steam store page.

Thank you to everyone who gives your time to help improve our game! We care about Carrier Command 2, it is a very important thing for us, and your help means a lot.

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

We are now accepting sign ups for an upcoming Steam Playtest of Carrier Command 2!

To join this playtest, simply go to the Carrier Command 2 store page and click "Request Access". The playtest is free to everyone and you can sign up now!

The Playtest for Carrier Command 2 will involve a limited number of players having access to Carrier Command 2. Access will be done in rounds, with each round lasting a few days or a long weekend. Each round will feature more of the game than previous rounds!

We expect to start the first round of live playtesting in a couple of weeks.



For this playtest, we are trying out the new in-built Steam Playtest feature here on Steam. Anyone can sign up, and all players are treated equally. Players are selected at random from the pool of signups.

Depending on the quantity of applications, it may not be possible to give access to all players who requested it. We will see how it goes, carefully considering player feedback, and will communicate our plans to you.



We are running these playtests to show you what the game is, why Carrier Command 2 is so special and unique an experience, and get feedback from players on what you think of the game! This is a huge milestone and we are really excited to share everything we have been working so hard on.

We can't wait! Sign up now.

Much love
The Carrier Command 2 Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss the sound track of Carrier Command 2, it's inspirations and development. We are also sharing a preview of some of the music to help describe the sound of the game.

Turn your speakers up and check out the music preview here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The direction of Carrier Command 2 is to mix the scope and precision of modern gaming with the creativity and pioneering spirit of the original game, and to celebrate the golden era of 1980s gaming. Many parts of the art style make reference to this, with low poly graphics and pixel art. In terms of music, we want to achieve a similar reflection of this era of gaming.

We are inspired by many well executed films and TV shows such as Tron Legacy and Stranger Things which capture the zeitgeist of an age gone by, in a way that captures the feeling of nostalgia and an appreciation of the styles of the era.

We are also inspired by original works of the 1980s, particularly of Ridley Scotts 1982 classic, Bladerunner. The sound track created by Vangelis creates a unique identity and brilliantly supports the incredible visual visual design that tells the story of their neo-noir world.

The Carrier Command 2 sound track is created by Chris Randle and Jon Daou, two brilliant composers who we have been working with for over 7 years and 5 games. Previously, they had produced a short 36 second main theme and soundscape for a small text based game we had developed called True Legacy. We loved working together in this style and had been waiting years for a new opportunity to take that style further.

Their sound track for Carrier Command 2 comprises of a main theme, 3 in game tracks (each with 3 layers corresponding to a state of alertness) and a boss fight theme. They are also working to produce an album version, designed for listening as music rather than integrated into a game, where the music is designed to loop and change procedurally.



Sound and music is such an important part of the experience of playing a game, so we have been very excited about developing this, and pushing this aspect as far as we can. A huge thank you to Chris and Jon who have wildly surpassed our expectations yet again.

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the music and direction of the game. Let us know in the comments!

In the mean time, development is going very well and we are working on final features that we are really passionate about. We are hoping to make some new exciting announcements soon! Until then...

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we announce naval warfare in Carrier Command 2.

Across the archipelago, the enemy have a small fleet of corvettes and gunboats that guard the highest value islands. While these ships only guard a small number of islands, they are very dangerous. These ships are armed with a subset of the same armaments you carry on your carrier.



While it may be possible to sometimes approach an island undetected and deploy ground forces while avoiding a naval conflict, it is often prudent to eliminate the enemy naval force before landing. This can be achieved through several means, such as the same armaments that you already have versus ground targets such as cruise missiles, naval artillery cannon, guns, rockets, precision bombs, but also the new carrier launched and air launched torpedoes.



Torpedo combat is inspired by classic Microprose title, Red Storm Rising, and also the well-crafted spiritual successor Cold Waters. Torpedoes are launched with a compass bearing and arming timer. Once the arming timer becomes active, the torpedo switches from cruise to search mode, and actively searches for sonar targets. Once a target is locked, the torpedo steers towards the target to close the distance and maintain lock.

Torpedoes are displayed on the vehicle control screen including their position history to show their progress and tracking behaviour.

As well as offensive torpedoes, your carrier and some enemy ships are equipped with decoys and noisemakers. Decoys are another type of torpedo that emit a strong signature, which other torpedoes are likely to lock on to. Noisemakers simply generate a huge amount of sonar interference in order to blind sonar tracking capabilities and disrupt a sonar lock.



Fighting these ships is hugely engaging, but also serves as great practice for when you finally fight the enemy carrier, and everything is being played for.

We have been having a great time developing and playing with the new naval combat and cannot wait to share more with you.

Please let us know if there is anything particular you would like to know more about, as well as your thoughts and feedback on naval combat.

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers

Dear Players,

In developer spotlight posts, we discuss the detail and ideas behind Carrier Command 2.

In this post, we discuss the main menu! OK, this doesn't sound that exciting at first, but the main menu actually reveals several important pieces of information about the game.

The main menu is in the form of a first person cockpit, with several interactable screens. Each screen represents a sub-menu - game, options, quit, and others that you would normally find on a game menu. In Carrier Command 2, they are not arranged in 2D UI elements, but placed in MFD style screens.

From the offset, we want to introduce players to the physical interactions and literalism of interfacing with CC2. Settings and controls are not hidden deep in sub-menus, but displayed across an array of screens facing the player. Each screen and station has an essential function and your environment is alive, deep, and highly detailed.

So, what are the screens?

The Game Menu



The central console is the main game menu. This is where you go to play the game. New, Load, Multiplayer, etc. There are some sub-menus to this screen where you can also select custom game options, etc. and we may show these in a future post!

The Options Menu



CC2 is a PC game for Steam, so all the usual graphics settings and options that are expected are here. I am sure some of you will study these graphics settings for clues about other elements of the game!

The Character Creation Menu



Yes, you can create your own character in CC2! You can define your gender, skin tone, hair colour and styles. This is all reflected in game in your appearance in multiplayer.

The Language Menu



Multi-language support! The list of languages shown is based on which countries and languages were popular with Stormworks. This isn't a final list and is subject to change, so we can't promise all these languages will be in the final list. We will keep you updated!

The Quit Menu



As tempting it was to put the quit button on an ejection handle, we thought it would be most consistent and correct to place this on an MFD, complete with brief credits and quit confirmation.

As for the elephant in the room; yes, this cockpit is travelling through space at faster-than-light speed. CC2 is true to the narrative of the original game, and the lore of the Gaea Universe. More on this will be announced in an upcoming spotlight!

We hope this weeks spotlight gives some useful insight and info into CC2, and a bit more context on what to expect from the game.

We have loads more to share in upcoming posts, so please let us know what you want to hear about next.

Development is almost feature complete and we are almost ready for larger scale play testing. Do you think we should invite some players to help test?

Much love
The Carrier Command Developers